Wahhey!

January was a spitty spotty month for gaming, too much background noise to settle to anything plus so many new things to try. It is like being in a fruit salad.

On the gorgeous one terabyte hard drive (yum yum) for having a look at, currently – Anarchy Online, Star Trek Online, Eden Eternal, Kerbal Space Program. I also treated myself to an All Access pass from Sony this month so EQ the original, Free Realms & Vanguard are there. My goto games are there – EQ2 (promoted! hahaha – aww I love EQ2), Guild Wars, Wurm Online, WoW. Dropped: Skyrim. It runs badly on my machine but so does Vanguard, that’s not it. I’m not playing it because the internal spaces are too small. It gets on my nerves *hugely* when I cant move about freely inside buildings. Champions Online is there. Just looking… yep that’s it.

Still plenty of room. Minecraft would be there if it had a free trial. I tried Minecraft Classic but found it hard to figure out the controls and I have better things to do than search for Classic help, if such a thing even exists. I would like to try it – but I’m not forking out an upfront fee for Minecraft until I like it. Rift… maybe if I run out of things will put their trial on. LoTro, ran like a hog on 3 legs last time I tried (year or two ago), not in a hurry to try again. I will soon download Pirates of the Burning Sea.

Although I dipped in and out of games last month between all the palaver of a January, rather than played any one with any consistency a few things do stand out:

Vanguard is achingly beautiful, I don’t care if it runs badly for me really – I like it. It will stay on my drive for a visit now and again. Can’t comment too much because I’m such a noob, but it seems satisfyingly complex and challenging. I’m soloing of course. Actually – in two week’s scrappy play at my starter area (not the island) I haven’t seen a soul, which is fine by me – it adds to the immersion of this strange and lovely world. There are people somewhere, I know it, one day I will meet them unexpectedly… works perfectly for me. I love the modelling of the monsters – I died a good few times getting a closer look at things I have no business tangling with. I have an alt on the starter island as well and have to say those hobgoblins in the swamp are stunning to look at, and their spells are very pretty… I have just started the crafting tutorial and have very little experience of diplomacy, so no comments about those. But most of all I love that you don’t level too fast. I have always been dismally unimpressed by endgames right since I started playing anything – I’m in no rush.

Star Trek Online is a total blast. I have found my place in life – I was destined to fly a spaceship! Again I’m the noobest of the noob here but managed to make my way to level 5 on both alts and get the Anniversary Ship. I am sure my skill choices would make a veteran player scream & run away, but tell you this – I’m not leaving. Most liked thing so far: the sheer Star Trekkiness of it. I do things just to hear the little sound effects – I’m probably a menace. But I like a lot of things about this game. The missions are fun and lighthearted, the controls for space flight and combat are suprisingly easy to use. The NPCs are well developed and as Tesh pointed out in her comment to a previous post, you can be rid of the NPCs without drama if your friend turns up unexpectedly. There’s stuff to learn & do and make, plenty of depth. Yep, it’s a keeper.

February, lot to do in real life but I’ll keep exploring and download anything else I hear about that takes my fancy.

Wurm Online is still unplayable very sadly – I just about limp through the farming I need to do. Very depressing. Someone is looking into it though. Fingers crossed. I’m beginning plan disbands – not only is everything merrily decaying (ugh) but I can’t do a thing about it either, which has had the good side of making me realise how little I miss fixing things, and paying to fix things. Disband & let the lot rot – I shall make one item at a time & improve it to the point where decay is not so noticeable? This could be how it all ends up – assuming I get to play again. I could sail my ship, stay with my friend or just keep one postage stamp deed over ore… The chopping starts on the 29th of Feb and will continue whenever upkeep runs out. I’m by no means ready to leave, but the fact is – I can’t play it.

Free Realms – amg. A.M.G. what is that? The cash shop is more than in your face, oh my oh my oh my. The “game” is just a vehicle for the all pervasive Cash Shop – unbelievable! Heaps of scorn… and then I found myself sneaking back to play it some more…. heh heh (blush)